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You cannot come in," the squeaky voice said fro you Go away"

Entreri hardly found the halfling’s nervous tone aerously in his mind He and Dwahvel had cut a deal- a mutually beneficial deal and one that see, if anyone-and yet, now it see back on her word Her doorman would not even let the assassin into the Copper Ante Entreri entertained the thought of kicking in the barricade, but only briefly He re traps Then he thought he h the slit in the boards, into the iet presented itself That was the beauty of Entreri’s dagger: he could stick soht out of hiht, ht of frustration than any action the ever-careful Entreri would seriously consider

"So I shall go," he said calmly "But do inform Dwahvel that my world is divided between friends and ene the doorman in a fluster

"My, but that sounded like a threat," came another voice before Entreri had moved ten paces down the street

The assassin stopped and considered a small crack in the wall of the Copper Ante, a peep hole, he realized, and likely an arrow slit

"Dwahvel," he said with a slight bow

To his surprise, the crack widened and a panel slid aside Dwahvel walked out in the open "So quick to na her head, her curly brown locks bouncing gaily

"But I did not," the assassin replied "Though it did anger h with our deal"

Dwahvel’s face tightened suddenly, stealing the up-to-then lighthearted tone "Kelp-enwalled," she explained, an expressionboats than the streets, but one Entreri had heard before On the fishing boats, "kelp-enwalling" referred to the practice of isolating particularly troublesome pincer crabs, which had to be delivered live tobarricades of kelp strands about the, on the street A kelp-enwalled person had been declared off-limits, surrounded and isolated by barricades of threats

Suddenly Entreri’s expression also showed the strain

"The order cauilds that could, and would, burn the Copper Ante to the ground and kill all of"Entreri is kelp-enwalled, so they said You cannot bla your entrance"

Entreri nodded He above matism for the sake of survival "Yet you chose to co from Dwahvel "Only to explain why our deal has ended," she said "And to ensure that I do not fall into the latter category you detailed for e for services Everyone kno that you have returned, and your mere presence has uild, but he is in the shado,the affairs of the Basadoni Guild, and the other guilds, for that matter, do not know you But they do know your reputation Thus they fear you as they fear each other Might not Pasha Wroning fear that the Rakers have hired Entreri to kill hi for position before the co event of Pasha Basadoni’s death not fear that one of the others has coaxed Entreri back to assure personal ascension?"

Entreri nodded again but replied, "Or is it not possible that Artemis Entreri has merely returned to his home?"

"Of course," Dwahvel said "But until they all learn the truth of you, they will fear you, and the only way to learn the truth-"

"Kelp-enwalled," the assassin finished He started to thank Dwahvel for showing the courage of conized that perhaps the halfling was only following orders, that perhaps thisprocess

"Watch well your back," Dwahvel added,for the secret door "You understand that there are many ould like to claim the head of Entreri for their trophy wall"

"What do you know?" the assassin asked, for it see eneralities here

"Before the kelp-enwalling order, my spies went out to learn what theyyour return," she explained "They were askedassassins Watch well your back" And then she was gone, back through the secret door into the Copper Ante

Entreri just blew a sigh and walked along He didn’t question his return to Calimport, for either way it simply didn’t see more deeply into the shadows that lined the dark street Perhaps one or more held his killer Perhaps not

Perhaps it simply did not matter

"Perry," Giunta the Diviner said to Kadran Gordeon as the tatched the young thug steal along the rooftops, shadowing, from a very safe distance, the movements of Artemis Entreri "A lieutenant for Bodeau"

"Is he watching?" Kadran asked

"Hunting," the wizard corrected

Kadran didn’t doubt the man Giunta’s entire life had been spent in observation This wizard was the watcher, and from the patterns of those he observed he could then predict with an aree of accuracy their next o after Entreri?" the fighter asked "Surely he knows of the kelp-enwalling order, and Entreri has a long alliance with that particular guild"

"You presume that Bodeau even knows of this," Giunta explained "I have seen this one before Dog Perry, he is called, though he fancies hi a chi a still-beating heart fro killer," he added, nodding, for now it made sense

"Not unlike one I know," Giunta said slyly, turning his gaze over Kadran

Kadran ser Kadran, brash and skilled The years had taught Kadran soh ht he was still a bit deficient in that regard He lookedsilently and carefully along the ri thug Kadran used to be Less polished and less wise, obviously, for even in his cocky youth Kadran doubted that he would have gone after the likes of Artemis Entreri so soon after the man’s return to Calimport and obviously without too ion," Kadran remarked to Giunta "Seek out the other rooftops Surely the young thug would not be foolish enough to hunt Entreri alone"

Giunta widened his scan He found Entreri nized ulars who held no known connection to Bodeau’s guild or to Dog Perry

"Hi in and out of the shadows, following the same route as Entreri, but far, far behind "Another of Bodeau’s men, I believe"

"He does not seeht," Kadran noted, for the man seemed to hesitate with every step He was so far behind Entreri and losing ground with each passing second that he could have jumped out and run full speed at thenoticed by the pursued assassin

"Perhaps he is ," Giunta remarked as he moved the focus of the crystal ball back to the two assassins, their paths beginning to intersect, "following his ally at the request of Bodeau to see how Dog Perry fares There are ht beside Dog Perry, then he should run fast Entreri is not one to drag out a battle, and it see PerryThe young assassin had found his spot of a into the man’s hand

"We could warn hi his lips nervously

"Entreri is already on his guard," the wizard explained "Surely he has sensed ically looked at without his knowledge" the wizard gave a little chuckle "Farewell, Dog Perry," he said

Even as the words came out of his mouth, the would-be assassin leaped down froround in a rush barely three strides behind Entreri, closing so fast that alistered the noise behind him

Al Perry rushed in, Perry’s slender sword leading A brush of the spinning assassin’s left hand, holding the ample folds of his cloak as further protection, deflected the bloide Ahead went Entreri, a sudden step, pushing up with his left hand, lifting Dog Perry’s arht under the now off-balance would-be killer, stabbing up into the arer as he passed Then, so quickly that Dog Perry never had a chance to compensate, so quickly that Kadran and Giunta hardly noticed the subtle turn, he pivoted back, turning to face Dog Perry’s back Entreri tore the dagger free and flipped it to his descending left hand, snapped his right hand around to the chin of the would-be killer, and kicked thehim back and down The older assassin’s left hand stabbed up, driving the dagger under the back of Dog Perry’s skull and deep into his brain

Entreri retracted the dagger iround, blood pooling under him, so quickly and so efficiently that Entreri didn’t even have a drop of blood on hi, pointed to the end of the ally, back on the street, where the stunned co Perry took one look at the victorious Entreri, turned on his heel, and ran away

"Yes, indeed," Giunta reo out on the streets that Artemis Entreri has returned"

Kadran Gordeon spent a long while staring at the deadhis lips so that his long and curvy mustache tilted on his dark face He had entertained the idea of going after Entreri himself, and noas quite plainly shocked by the sheer skill of the man It was Gordeon’s first true experience with Entreri, and suddenly he understood that the man had come by his reputation honestly

But Kadran Gordeon was not Dog Perry, was farhu of assassins